WASHINGTON (AP) — The American public will get rhetoric and imagery in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. The speech will contain a heavy dose on the economy and play out against a visual backdrop dominated by the nation’s current debate over guns.

Obama on Tuesday evening will make a case for measures and proposals that he says will boost job creation and put the economy on a more upward trajectory. But in the audience will be many Americans invited to the witness the speech because of their experience with gun violence.

That confluence of message and symbolism illustrates where Obama is in his presidency following his re-election.

His economic blueprint represents unfinished business. The gun debate, spurred by the December tragedy in Newtown, Conn., is part of his new agenda.